Player Profile: Hitoki Iwase

by Patrick Newman (Aug 5, 2008)

The
consensus top three NPB free agents this upcoming off season are Koji
Uehara, Kenshin Kawakami, and Hitoki Iwase. I've already written about Uehara and Kawakami, so today I'll cover Chunichi Dragons closer Iwase.

Career Thus FarHitoki Iwawe is probably the most accomplished relief pitcher
currently active in Japan. In his 10 professional seasons with the
Dragons, he has a 2.02 ERA with 187 saves and 47-28 record. His
peripherals are good as well: in 614 2/3 innings, he's struck out 565
while walking 140 and allowing only 26 home runs.

Chunichi moved Iwase into the closer role in 2004 with the departure
of Akinori Otsuka, and he immediately flourished. In 2005 he set a new
NPB save record with 45, starting a run of three consecutive 40 save
seasons. That streak is unlikely to continue this year, as even though
he has 27 saves so far, he'll miss time to play in the Olympics.
Overall he's been a little more hittable this year, but still has a
2.87 ERA and 31/8 K/BB. JapaneseBaseball.com has Iwase's stats through 2007 available in English, and you can find his stats to date in Japanese here.

2007 Japan Series
The defining moment in Iwase's career was the deciding fifth game of the 2007 Japan Series. Dragons starter Daisuke Yamai
had a perfect game through eight innings when manager Hiromitsu Ochiai
controversially summoned Iwase to pitch the 9th. A nervous Iwase sent
down the bottom of Nippon Ham's lineup in order, keeping the perfect
game intact and giving Chunichi it's first Japan Championship since
1954.

PitchingIwase is a three-pitch guy, with a fastball, slider, and
shuuto. He's not going to overpower anyone with a fastball that sits
at about 89 MPH and doesn't get much faster. That said, his fastball
has movement and he spots it well. Iwase's out pitch is his low 80's slider,
which has good movement and he'll throw in any count. His third pitch
is a shuuto, which he's throwing more often this year, particularly to
right handed hitters. Iwase pitches down in the zone and generally has
good command.

Contract Status & MLB InterestIwase is among the highest paid pitchers in Japan with his
approximately $4.3M/year salary. He qualified for free agency following
the 2007 season, but opted to sign a one-year contract to remain with Chunichi.
There was speculation that he wanted to see how other Japanese
relievers like Masa Kobayashi fare in the big leagues. I'll also
suggest that he wanted to spend another year pitching with his close
friend Kenshin Kawakami, and that he wanted to represent Japan in the
Olympics. This is purely speculation on my part.

For his part, Iwase seems to be less outspoken about leaving Japan than some of his NPB compatriots. His clearest comment I could find on the matter was "to say I'm not interested would be a lie".

SynopsisYou'd have to go back to Kazuhiro Sasaki
to find an NPB closer with better career numbers than Iwase. Iwase
actually beats Sasaki in some categories, but Sasaki's peak was better
than Iwase's (so far).

Despite the struggles of Yasuhiko Yabuta and Kazuo Fukumori, NPB
import relievers have a pretty good track record of MLB success thanks
to guys like Sasaki, Akinori Otsuka, Hideki Okajima, and Takashi Saito.
That point, combined with Iwase's achievements, seem to make him a
reasonably safe bet for MLB success should he choose to come over. I
think the key for him will be to mix up his stuff and not let MLB
hitters sit on his fastball.